Research on, and development of, electronic databases is an important field of computer science. Electronic databases underlie many of the computer-based technologies and services that underlie many aspects of commerce, education, research and development, and other social activities.
There are a variety of different types of electronic databases. In general, databases, comprise information stored in electronic memory and mass-storage devices within computer systems. The data is managed by, and access is provided to the data through interfaces provided by, database management systems, generally complex computer programs that each execute on one or multiple computer systems. Often, an electronic database is an integral component of various different types of information systems, business systems, service systems, and other types of specialized computer programs and systems. As one example, an accounting and personnel-management system used by the financial and personnel departments of a small company may be implemented as a collection of computer programs and routines that execute on computers of a centralized computing facility within the company and that access data managed by a database management system. In such systems there are many different hierarchical levels of understanding and knowledge of the data entities and relationships between data entities managed by a database management system. The data may be organized according to a database schema developed by a database administrator and/or application-program developer. While the database administrator may have one understanding of the data, based on the database schema, application-program developers may have a different understanding of the data, based on how the data, and various database entities, are used and manipulated by the application programs. Various human personnel may employ the application programs, or directly access the database management system, to manage real-world accounting data and personnel records, and therefore may have a quite different understanding of the data entities and data relationships within the database created on their behalf by the application programs through the database-management-system interface.
In general, according to best database practices, all of the different levels of understanding and knowledge of the data stored within a database is extensively documented, so that those with access to the documentation can straightforwardly access the various different levels of understanding and knowledge of the data stored in an electronic database. Such understanding is needed when, for example, the electronic data within the database needs to be moved to another database or to another type of database, analyzed for various auditing, enhancement, and efficiency purposes, used by newly developed application programs, or accessed without the availability of the application programs and/or database management system through which the data is normally accessed. Unfortunately, complete documentation for all the various different levels of meaning and understanding of data stored in an electronic database is often incomplete, of poor quality, or lacking altogether. The task of obtaining the various different levels of knowledge and understanding of the data stored in an electronic database can be complex, tedious, time-consuming, and often intractable. Those having need for understanding data stored in electronic databases continue to seek tools to facilitate extracting and reconstructing the logic, meaning, and understanding of data stored in electronic databases.